Judge eyes October school funding trial

State District Judge John Dietz wants to start the next school funding trial in October, but stopped short of setting a date Wednesday while meeting with parties in the latest school finance dispute.

250th District Court Judge John Dietz

Some of the lawyers representing school districts had embraced a recommendation by the state attorney’s office to start the trial – which everyone agrees will last at least six weeks – on Nov. 5.

Dietz, a veteran judge who handled a school finance suit eight years ago, fears a November trial start will leave him working on Christmas Eve.

“If I’m writing an order on Christmas Eve, you all are going to share the experience with me,” he told a rather large cast of lawyers representing five different parties in the case.

Dietz also used the first pre-trial meeting to give lawyers his power-point presentation, which emphasizes brevity and electronic filings. He doesn’t want paper.

“Less is more,” told the lawyers. Keep arguments short, and clearly explain what they want the judge to grasp and the reason, he said.

“You will be surprised to learn what you can say in one minute,” Dietz told them.

He also likes visuals, spreadsheets, “representational diagrams” and flow charts “instead of three feet of briefs.

“It beats a notebook all to hell,” the judge emphasized.

David Thompson, a lawyer who represents the state’s larger school districts, agreed that an early trial date sounds better because inadequate and inequitable school funding is “a matter of great urgency.” School districts want a Texas Supreme Court ruling and legislative action before the 2014-15 school year, he said.

Some charter schools and a group preaching school efficiency have intervened in the case initially filed by school districts complaining that state funding is inadequate to meet state academic standards – and that funding has become as unequal as it was in 1984 with the filing of the first Edgewood case.

Some lawyers for the school districts will fight to keep the charter school group from inclusion in the suit because of conflicting interests.

“You’re in – until later, maybe,” the judge said.

Afterward, Mark Trachtenberg, a lawyer representing mostly property wealthy school districts, said Dietz was “exactly right” in calling for lawyers to be concise.

“We’re happy to comply with that,” Trachtenberg said.

Richard Gray III, a lawyer representing 407 Equity Center school districts, speculated the school funding trial will start in mid-October.